"I didn´t hear, THANKS TO MY DEEP SLEEPING, but my comp didn´t sleep a wink." (Sam)

Hello family and friends!

   What an awesome week! I hope you all had an enjoyable week and Easter as well.

   What´s new here in Spain and the mission field?? President visited our zone last week and we had an awesome meeting with the zones combined. I asked to translate.. :) which I ended up kind of shooting myself in the foot. I thought I was just going to translate Hermana Deere´s talk into Spanish for the natives here that don´t speak English but what ended up happening was that I translated that part to spanish and the rest of the meeting into english for this senior couple of missionaries. :) Hah it was fun though cuz it made me realize how BAD my english is right now. I was saying english words but putting it in spanish order and with spanish grammer.... ha! I need to practice both languages now!

   We have really great investigators right now that are very stable and have very bright futures... there are obstacles that  need to be overcome so they can be baptized...but, It is almost innevitable that they will all be baptized. How long? We don´t know.. Haha so we are all looking forward to this general conference and the fast sunday after for some direction and divine help.

   DAD. HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN A COUPLE OF DAYS. Sorry to jump the gun.. :) I just won´t be able to email you on your birthday so i´ll send it to you now. Hey fill me in on the golf tourney that you played in when you were in italy!! I wanna hear how it went! Hey, Elder Olsen comes into the field next transfer I think... If not next transfer it will be the next. We´ll see where he goes and who he´ll be with. I´ll keep you updated.

 

Semana Santa in Spain

 The week of easter is CRAZY in spain!! Look up ´´semana santa´´ in google. It isn´t just a one day celebration. It is a week long celebration. Random fairs or circuses. Random bands walking through the streets at random hours of the day or night. I think thursday night every single person in spain was awake the entire night... they had a celebration and played drums and trumpets all night. I didn´t hear THANKS TO MY DEEP SLEEPING, but my comp didn´t sleep a wink. :(((( :D So anyways, its super crazy here. Look on the mission blog. Hermana Deere posted a couple pictures and some explainations of the week. We as a mission decided to really try to plan the week ahead of time.. so people were expecting our visits instead of trying to plan it as we went. That way people would be waiting for us instead of trying to ask them to make time during "Semana Santa". It worked well and we had a successful week. President Deere is extremely smart and very imspired.

   Our ward right now is a very small ward. In fact, it is the same size as a fairly large branch. The average attendance is like 55 people... Our second counselor, american btw, that is living with his family in spain for work, has been traveling europe with the fam this last three weeks. So I´ve been taking over teaching the young mens class. I LOVE IT. I LOVE IT. Yesterday was the last class i´ll teach and it was on the doctrine of Jesus Christ. I use the classes to prep the boys for their missions.. aka I make THEM teach ME... :) and then I tie it back to them to help them apply the lessons to their own lives. I LOVE TEACHING YOUTH.

   Sorry my memory card took a long time. I´m glad you enjoyed the photos.  And, keep going mama! Use this time wisely! You have the right to be ´´on vacation´´ right now. :) you need to recuperate so don´t let people expect you to do things! Relax and read the Book of Mormon or spanish. Everyone wishes they could have a ´´break´´ like you have right now. Relájate y disfruta. :)

   Tell all the one-year-older-than-me guys ´´hi and to go get married´´ -from elder norton. :)

   I love you all! Reread the story of Abinadi and recommit to having greater faith in the 

Lord´s will.

-Elder Norton

Mosiah 17: 20 And now, when Abinadi had said these words, he fell, having suffered death by fire; yea, having been put to death because he would not deny the commandments of God, having sealed the truth of his words by his death.

Don't know the story? CLICK HERE

"Well, since Friday we have been without water ... " (Hilary)

Okay, how is everyone? You all sound like you are doing well! I love hearing from you! Thanks for updating me and keeping me in mind. Know that, even though sometimes I can't respond, I am always so grateful for your support and thoughts! From each and every one of you!

So much has happened this week. I thought you would have found out by now. I'll start from last Monday.
We finished our p-day early because Hermana E had a medical appointment. They were doing some physical therapy on her and it caused her a lot of pain, so we couldn't work that night. We had to go back to the physical therapist Tuesday and Hermana E was miserable afterward....  it seemed to be making her worse. She couldn't really walk or stand up. So Tuesday we couldn't do much and Wednesday we spoke with President. We expressed a few concerns and he told Hermana Ellis that she should go home so that she can get well. We went to the house of the stake president for lunch and there she Skyped with her Mom and they got things figured out. That night we stayed in the nearest sister apartment to the airport and Hermana E left at 5 am Thursday Morning.

My new companion's name is Hermana Rodriguez. I am finishing her training and I will be with her until she gets her visa because her mission is Argentina Cordoba (!!) and she is just waiting in her home country until they get her visa problems worked out. She is excellent. She is a really great missionary, super smart and funny. We are having fun. Things have been a little tough in the work and just in general, but everything is going to work out! Today we headed to the offices and ran into Hermana Marca and Hermana Samantha Harris. I was having a really hard day then they walked in and I remembered how much Heavenly Father loves me and is aware of every one of his children. Hermana Harris is the greatest and we talked for a long time and went to lunch and it was so good. We are planning to be companions someday. If we have enough faith, it will happen, right? :)

Well, since Friday we have been without water. All of Calderon. It is interesting. Luckily we had a couple big bottles of water here (that Hermana Ellis and I had felt impressed to buy a couple weeks ago) so we have been bathing and washing the dishes with those. Saturday Raquel was baptized because the church is really on the ball and although the whole neighborhood/city is without water, the font is connected to a reserve. The water was cold and dirty and yellowish brown, but she was baptized and loved it and is so strong. It was a really special baptism. I love her a lot and am so happy for her!

Dad, HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK. I have sent a couple things your way and I pray that they get to you in time. Dad, just know that I love you with all of my heart and I look forward to a lot of good daddy daughter time in about seven months. Hope you have an excellent week!

Love you, Adam!  Hope all is well with Mitch and Jen!  I love hearing about the calling, Dad! How cool that you spent the weekend w/ Mel. I hope that Bryce gets to serve a mission! What an incredible story! I'm so glad that you've been able to have these experiences. I learn so much from you! And glad that you're having fun with the Elders. Don't let them get too comfortable :) 

Well, we didn't do much for Easter, but I did a lot of meditating on my own. I am very grateful for Christ's life and His sacrifice and His love for us. We really can't comprehend it all, but I try really hard to be as grateful as possible. As everyone in Calderòn has been outside with buckets waiting for a big truck with water to pass by I think about how Christ is the living water. Si fuera asì la misiòn con gente esperando en una fila para recibir el agua viva. No tendrían sed jamàs. Really, His gospel has all the answers. It is the what and the why and the how. There is no complete happiness without it.

Well, I love you all. And I love this work. Thanks for everything! Keep writing. Keep moving forward.

Hermana Norton

"Don't let His suffering and death go in vain" (Sam)

HELLO FAMILIA,

   Woooah! Whole new look at the mission. Loving having my "child" or trainee and enjoying DL so far. I love working with people and being able to work with people and serve people and although no one has to wait till you have a calling to serve someone, I feel almost like a greater desire or a right or something to be able to serve the district. :) I´m excited.

   My new companion is awesome! His name´s Elder Larios and he´s from California. His mom´s from Mexico and his dad is from El Salvador so they speak spanish in their home. Its great to have a companion that speaks BOTH languages PERFECTLY. :) It takes a little load off your back. We are teaching well together and actually finding a lot of great people to work with. We are helping the Gospel to become part of these people´s lives and that is what I love. We were working with two investigators the other day, E and F, with a member there as well. They (investigators) said.. "We feel weird now when we don´t pray before bed or when we´re not in church on Sunday. I often find myself just reading the Book of Mormon now."  :D Soo great! F has a fecha for the 21 of april. He´s rreeeeeally looking for his answer. Pray for him. and E please.

   I sent the memory card home. Sorry it took so long.

   We are loving the area and the car! We were playing basketball and soccer today in the stake center in Sevilla with a bunch of elders and when we finished up we all walked outside and everyone started walking away and we got in our car......... O.o :D so great! We sat down and my comp was like... "We´re so blessed to have a car"  :) and then we high fived. Hahah  and Aljarafe actually has very little south americans or people from other countries. Its almost aaaaall Spanish and I love it. You just have live their culture. You have to live it and eat it and speak it. :) Its fun.

   Thanks everyone for your emails and whatnot. Love hearing from you all. I will write you all back!

   ADAM. Keep tearin it up on the court or on the field or whereever you are. :).. but don´t tear it up when you read the scriptures..... you´d really regret that later. :)

   I´m good on camera cards mom. The camera I have only takes the little ´´mini´´ cards and I have a converter thing so I'm good. For example, I moved all the photos and videos from the little mini card to the card that I sent home to you guys no problem so we´re good.

   Anyways, its been short and swe...... not even that sweet. :) Love you all!

   Don´t forget, this week especially, that Jesus Christ, 

your older brother, died for you. 

Don´t let His suffering and death go in vain. 

Spend a little more time on your knees tonight to demonstrate your gratitude and to ponder on the things the Atonement can change for you. 
Repentance is Change. Change every day.

-Elder Norton

Watch this beautiful EASTER message    

Happy Easter!

Easter 1995

I love looking at old photos of my kids. Some of the memories are so clear I can almost hear their voices. It's like watching one of your favorite movies, hitting pause, but knowing exactly how the scene plays out. Mitch was 9, Hilary was 4 and Sam had just turned 2 a couple of months before this indoor egg hunt. Apparently not everyone wanted to stop to have their picture taken.

This is Elder Sam Norton's second Sunday at the Provo MTC. Last week was General Conference and this week is a special Easter Program with several General Authorities in attendance. Elder Norton and his companion, Elder Chad Peters, have joined the MTC choir and will be singing in the program.

This year, with the recent passing of our dear father / grandfather, Easter holds even more significance. Follow the link to view "He is Risen"                          Joanna